The Ascending
Transformers: Beast Wars: The Ascending is a comic book miniseries originally published in from October 2007 to January 2008 by IDW Publishing. It is a sequel to Transformers: Beast Wars: The Gathering. Issue 1 Magmatron, shifted out of existence, monitors reality as a chronal ghost, able to access and witness all of time but interact with nothing. In his travels, two things stand out: the extinction of the Transformers, who destroy themselves in a feral rage, and the destruction of Cybertron by a familiar form. He's seen it many times, but there is no way for him to stop it. But there may be a way he can influence others to stop it... In prehistoric times on Earth, Razorbeast, Prowl, and Wolfang consider their place on Earth, fighting Ravage, unsure if there's any chance of rescue. Elsewhere, Grimlock gets into a battle with Retrax and Manterror, but the fight is just a diversion to draw Grimlock away from Razorbeast's Maximal base. Retrax detonates some explosives that signal the start to a large battle between the two armies. While Torca kicks tons of ass outside, Ravage sneaks inside of the Maximal base to access the hardware that would allow himself to shift his place in time so that he might interact with Optimus Primal and Megatron's fight. Razorbeast stops Ravage and deduces from the desperation of the Predacon attack that Primal is close to winning conclusively. While Ravage explains, confirming the news and his intentions, Snarl slips into position to blast Ravage away from Razorbeast. The two Maximals knock the Predacon leader out. Magmatron, watching the universe move forward, brings his attention back to the transwarp signal sent by the Maximals to request help from Cybertron. Although he's unable to interact with the physical world, he uses his temporal presence to escort the transwarp radio message though space to arrive at it's intended destination. With his aid, the signal reaches Lio Convoy on Cybertron. The Prime decides to aid his agent on Earth. In another location, the Blendtrons have unleashed Angolmois energy and Shokaract lives. But unknown to Shokaract, he is but a pawn to bring about the return of Unicron! Issue 2 A disembodied Unicron commands his loyal servants to eliminate an rogue element in the timestream and to not tell the "vessel". He orders Rartorata to travel to prehistoric Earth to stop anyone from alerting of his coming. On Earth, even with Torca and Grimlock, Ravage's Predacons have the advantage in the battle. Snarl calls Razorbeast outside to help fight, leaving Ravage inside the cave base, unaware that the Predacon is still functional. Using the Maximals' hardware, Ravage shifts his chronal placement to interact with the primary Beast Wars. But before arriving in the same existence as Optimus Primal and Megatron's war, Ravage finds himself drawn out of time to Magmatron. Having seen the future, Magmatron explains to Ravage that a truce is in order to save Cybertron's future, which convinces the Predacon to consider the option. On Cybertron, the Maximal Imperium, finding their society destabilized and unaware of the effects that Angolmois energy is having on the populace of Cybertron, call for help from Big Convoy. Big Convoy, however is too busy investigating a murder—one Angolmois junkie being killed so the Angolmois could be stolen. Unknown to him, the theft of Angolmois was perpetrated by Drancron, Elephorca, and Rarotata so they could feed the energy to Shokaract. Back on Earth, Lio Convoy's Pack arrives through transwarp after having received Razorbeast's distress signal (thanks to Magmatron), ready to assist the group on Earth. They descend, changing the tide of battle with their heavy weaponry. But before the battle is over, Ravage shifts himself into their time and relays the news from Magmatron: the two sides must join forces. But before he can finish explaining, Rartorata swoops out and stings Razorbeast with something that mutates the Maximal into a razorback of rage! Issue 3 On Cybertron, Big Convoy and his team have found a massive tower with high levels of Angolmois energy inside. Shokaract, aware of their presence, prepares to go deal with them himself. The Blendtrons protest, saying that his power is not yet stabilized, but Shokaract is impatient and dismisses their concerns. Emerging through the wall, Shokaract tears Tasmania Kid in half and prepare to take on Big Convoy himself. On Earth, Razorbeast is attacking Maximal and Predacon alike, mutated by Rartorata's Angolmois injection. Ravage tries to explain the situation to Lio Convoy, saying that the future of Cybertron depends on a truce between them. On Cybertron, Big Convoy transforms into his spider tank mode to get up close and personal with Shokaract. Shokaract easily tears through Cohrada and Survive, but tells Big Convoy what will happen: Cybertron will become an extension of his will, and Shokaract will become a god. With that, he destroys Big Convoy and goes on to devastate Cybertron. Magmatron, watching everything in chronal phase, knows what will really happen: Shokaract will destroy most of Cybertron, and the survivors will kill each other before Unicron's resurrection. On Earth, Lio Convoy agrees to a truce with Ravage's Predacons. The Maximals will deal with Razorbeast while the Predacons will take down Rartorata. As the Predacons down the Blendtron and extract some Angolmois from him, the Maximals manage to restrain Razorbeast. Lio tries to reason with him, and Razorbeast's personality manages to break through. Ravage says that they need to go now, but the other Blendtrons arrive. Razorbeast breaks through his binds and attacks—the Blendtrons. He urges the others to go, while he fights the Blendtrons himself. The most able of both forces go on Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser, while the rest stay behind to help Razorbeast. Ravage says that they will need a scientist to make a retrovirus from the Angolmois that the Predacons extracted, and Lio Convoy happens to know one. As before on Cybertron, Shokaract emerges from his tower and tears Tasmania Kid in half, but before he can do the same to Big Convoy, Lio Convoy's transwarp cruiser emerges, only to be shot down by Shokaract. Then, tears in space and time appear, announcing the coming of Shokaract's Heralds, carrying enough Angolmois to ensure his rise to glory. The Ascension has begun... Issue 4 Under Shokaract's instruction, his Heralds distribute Angolmois capsules to the crazed masses of Cybertron, with the intention of using the chaos and negative feelings to power the Anti-Matrix in Shokaract's chest. Observing the chaos is Big Convoy, who meets Bump, a "specialist" sent by Lio Convoy. Soon afterward, Big Convoy and his soldiers meet the Pack, along with immigrants from Earth, including Ravage. Ravage chronally displaces himself to consult the time-lost Magmatron. Meanwhile, Lio Convoy requests that Bump study the Angolmois and create a retrovirus to counteract it—enough of it for all of Cybertron. In the netherspace, Magamtron proposes to Ravage a plan: Bring Shokaract to him so that he may be shown the true purpose of his "Ascending". He suggests getting a Maximal to do the suicide mission of placing the chronal phase facilitator on Shokaract himself. On Earth, the Angolmois-drunk Razorbeast continues to battle the Blendtrons. Refusing to let the Blendtrons destroy them all, the left-behind Predacon and Maximal forces unite to take down the gigantic and powerful attackers. Optimus Minor checks on Razorbeast; he is still rational, but the Angolmois threatens his sanity. He tells Optimus Minor that he knows what to do then. On Cybertron, Ravage has filled in the others about Magmatron's plan. Prowl and Snarl are tasked with attaching the facilitator onto Shokaract, while others attack him to distract him. In the following battle, many die by Shokaract's hand. Back on Earth, Elephorca is destroyed by Razorbeast and Drancron is kicked into Rartorata's stinger, annihilating the both of them. The only challenge left is Razorbeast, who has now lost his inhibitions. Optimus Minor pleads with Razorbeast to not force his hand. The battle against Shokaract goes as planned; Snarl and Prowl approach Shokaract while invisible, allowing Snarl to use the facilitator to transport Shokaract into Magmatron's netherspace. Shokaract's Heralds, baffled by his disappearance, are distracted long enough for Ravage to throw a grenade their way, scattering them. Magmatron shows Shokaract his true propose: to be a vessel of Unicron. Aghast at this revelation, Shokaract rips the Anti-Matrix from his chest, committing "spectacular suicide". This causes a "timelash" that sets Magmatron back into normal space on Cybertron. He delivers the sad news—Razorbeast was euthanized. Bump delivers the first batch of the anti-Angolmois retrovirus, but he needs a proper lab to mass-produce it. Observing the sorry state of Cybertron, Lio Convoy and Big Convoy hope that no threat comes up while they're focused on rebuilding. Unfortunately, of course, Megatron has arrived. Category:IDW Beast Wars series